

fdisk                        Command                        fdisk




Hard-disk partitioning utility

/eettcc/ffddiisskk [-rr] [-cc] [-bb _m_b_o_o_t] _x_d_e_v

The command ffddiisskk  supports flexible hard-disk partitioning among
various  operating  systems  (e.g.  MS-DOS, CP/M,  COHERENT,  and
XENIX).  This capability  means that up to four operating systems
can  be  supported  on  one  hard  disk.   ffddiisskk  recognizes  the
following flags:

-rr Read-only access to partitioning information.

-bb Use  the first  446  bytes of  _m_b_o_o_t  as master  boot code  to
   replace that in _x_d_e_v.

-cc Allow  the specification  of  disk geometry  (i.e., number  of
   cylinders,  heads,  sectors)  for  disk  drives that  are  not
   supported by the system BIOS.

ffddiisskk  accesses the  first  block from  the  special device  _x_d_e_v
(e.g., /dev/at0x)  for the partitioning  information.  ffddiisskk then
queries the user for  changes.  These changes are written to _x_d_e_v
only if  the user requests the changes to  be saved.  If omitted,
_x_d_e_v defaults to  /ddeevv/aatt00xx and /ddeevv/aatt11xx. SCSI disk device users
will  need  to specify  _x_d_e_v  as  /ddeevv/ssdd_nxx where  _n  is a  digit
corresponding  to  the   SCSI  ID  for  the  disk  device  (e.g.,
/ddeevv/ssdd00xx).

***** Files *****

<ffddiisskk.hh>

***** See Also *****

ccoommmmaannddss

***** NNootteess *****

IIff tthhee ppaarrttiittiioonn ttaabbllee iiss cchhaannggeedd, tthhee ssyysstteemm sshhoouulldd bbee rreebbooootteedd;
mmoosstt  ddeevviiccee ddrriivveerrss  wwiillll  nnoott rreeccooggnniizzee  tthhee rreevviisseedd  ppaarrttiittiioonn
iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn uunnttiill aa rreebboooott ooccccuurrss.

AAss tthhee  -rr and  -bb options  are contradictory, attempting  to use
them together generates an error message.

Please  note that  some  versions of  ffddiisskk  for other  operating
systems  can rearrange  the  order of  entries  in the  partition
table.  If this happens, you may lose the ability to run COHERENT
until the  table is  restored to its  previous order.  A  sign of
this problem is getting the  prompt AATT bboooott? when trying to start
COHERENT after  running any ffddiisskk program, and  not being able to
get past it.




COHERENT Lexicon                                           Page 1




fdisk                        Command                        fdisk



Computer  systems  that   use  older  BIOS  releases  may  report
incorrect disk  parameters.  Users of such  systems should change
the CMOS  setup values  if possible, but  the BIOS on  some older
systems will  not allow you to specify  arbitrary values for disk
parameters.  Users with such  systems can use the ffddiisskk -cc option
instead.

If you  plan to install and  run COHERENT and MS-DOS  on the same
hard disk, note the following:

->   If you wish to install  COHERENT and MS-DOS on the same hard
     drive, you _m_u_s_t run the MS-DOS ffddiisskk first!

->   If  you plan  on running  both  operating systems,  you _m_u_s_t
     install MS-DOS  first and leave  some free cylinders  on the
     disk for COHERENT as well as a free partition.  You can have
     both primary  as well as  extended MS-DOS partitions  on the
     same  drive as  COHERENT,  but COHERENT  cannot  use a  sub-
     partition of  the MS-DOS extended  partition.  COHERENT must
     have one of the four _r_e_a_l partitions.

_F_a_i_l_u_r_e _t_o _o_b_s_e_r_v_e _t_h_e_s_e _r_u_l_e_s _w_i_l_l _r_e_s_u_l_t _i_n _l_o_s_s _o_f _d_a_t_a



































COHERENT Lexicon                                           Page 2


